Top 10 Albums of 2014: 5 - 1

5. Mazes - Wooden Aquarium 



The Manchester three piece returned last month with their third helping ‘Wooden Aquarium’ and TT is on hand to check it out. The latest outing witnesses Mazes’ love of 1990s lo-fi US indie once more but a turn towards a more polished pop sound is helping them tread yet more exciting new ground.

The manoeuvre towards a mod-cum-psyche direction is reminiscent of their peers Toy and Foxygen. What gives them the edge is the ability to combine their previous Teenage Fanclub dirge-pop sound with the new direction. ‘Letters Between U&V’, ‘Mineral Springs’ and ‘Salford’ are prime exponents of this.

 ‘
Letters Between U&V’ delivers a riff worthy of Teenage Fanclub or the Lemonheads but with a crispness that the aforementioned Toy have trail blazed with in the previous years. The motorik beat allows them to meander between the two styles. The grouping of sullied US indie and English Mod-psyche together is unusual on paper but in practice it works. So button up your Fred Perry and grow your hair long, anything goes!

‘Mineral Springs’ witnesses Jack Cooper’s vocals at their best. They are angelic and wrap around the driving guitar loops with a quality that Bobby Gillespie was searching for on Primal Scream’s ‘Gentle Tuesday’. Meanwhile, ‘Salford’ has a style similar to the Pixies’ ‘Gigantic’ with male and female vocals working in tandem, whilst the guitars are a comparable to David Tattersall’s Wave Pictures. All that said, Mazes are their own band with their own sound and the influences act like the great flms of Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright; great if you get them but if you don’t it’s still a great film.

 To just talk about the merging of these styles would be a disservice to the creativity elsewhere on the album. ‘Explode Into Colo(u)rs’ sounds like a mellowed out Graham Coxon, whereas, ‘RIPP’ has a Pixies via James Yorkston feel, combining spoken word vocals with a dreamy semi-consciousness.

Fans of the first two albums will revel in the more uninhibited ‘Universal Me’ and ‘Stamford Hill’. These two have the aggression of their earlier work but, now they come with an additional surging For TT though, the standout track is ‘Stamford Hill’. It encapsulates everything the band is now about. It blends the lo-fi angst of their previous work with the new nods towards motorik much like rest of the album. However, on this song they get the energy and free flowing sound they create conjure a sense of lawlessness one can completely lose them in.

In recent times we have witnessed bands such as Wild Beasts, The Maccabees and Jamie T all produce their best work on their 3rd album and ‘Wooden Aquarium’ is no different. For any record label considering signing bands, we implore you to believe in them and let them grow. ‘Wooden Aquarium’ is another fine example of the quality which can be achieved if bands are allowed to go about their business as they please. Go. Buy. It. Now.
  


4. Hobbes Fanclub - Up At Lagrange



‘Up At The Lagrange’ is the debut album from the Bradford four piece Hobbes Fanclub. There are plenty of late 80s and early 90s guitar band influences to behold, here’s what we made of them.

A recurring theme throughout the album is one of heartbreak, best displayed on ‘Your Doubting Heart’ and ‘How Could You Leave Me Like This’. ‘Your Doubting Heart’ is a tale of how the honeymoon period can spiral downwards to something dark and bitter. The Mary Chain style of guitar playing gets the lack of faith and trust across with real style.

‘How Could You Leave Me Like This’ is as morbid as it says on the tin. The opening line of ‘How deep is the water / I can’t look down’ sets the tone for this shoegaze classic as it roams through a world of introspect and heartbreak.

Lyrically the album might be quite a gloomy affair but musically there are some moments of pure bliss. ‘Outside Myself’ is MVB ‘s ‘Loveless’ combined with a joyous mid-90s guitar solo. ‘Stay Gold’ has a House Of Love riff destined for glory whilst the vocals sit perfectly between Jim Reid and Stuart Murdoch on the jingle-jangle spectrum.

‘Why Should I Tell The Truth’ is a combination, seemingly, of Jesus & The Mary Chain, My Bloody Valentine and Teenage Fanclub. The hint of fuzz from the Mary Chain, the epic atmosphere of MBV and the driving guitars of Fanclub had us frantically reaching for the repeat button.

The only live date scheduled for 2015 is not until June at present but more should be on the way and TT will definitely be attending. As should you. 

3. The Crookes - Soapbox

The Sheffield four piece returned in April with their 3rd installment ‘Soapbox’. As they are about to end their current UK tour we revisit what is surely to be a mainstay in the end of year top 10 polls.

Last year’s ‘Hold Fast’ album saw the band adopt a more aggressive attitude to their exploration of US rock n roll music. The opener ‘Play Dumb’ begins with said combative guitars but also adopts synths which evoke memories of The Cure circa ‘Pornography’. These subtle touches pop up throughout the album demonstrating yet another step up in class from the band.

As ever with the Crookes, the lyrics are fantastic. Daniel Hopewell has consistently churned out the goods but on ‘Soapbox’ he has hit top form. ‘Echolalia’ is a melancholic look at repeating the same mistakes whilst attempting to move on from a former love:

‘I should brush aside what The Strangers tell me,

That those on the outside are born to be lonely,

Still I keep chasing the cheap fix ‘til I wake from this crisis on my own,

My mind unfolds and I resolve to forget her but still I hear the echoes come the low.’

Songwriter Hopewell’s sorrow laden take on the human condition to belong and simultaneously be individualistic is a triumph and should be heard by everyone!

For anyone who, in the naivety of youth fell so hopelessly in love they had no idea what the rest of the world was up to then ‘Holy Innocents’ is a must listen. Not since Kevin Sampson’s ‘Stars Are Stars’ novel has a young burning love been so intelligibly illustrated:

 ‘I just wanna hide like holy innocents,

I met you at the fountain outside the station,

Nothing else mattered ‘cept dumb conversation

Our world in holy innocence’

The piece de resistance of the album and the track that sums up The Crookes more than any other is ‘Outsiders’. This is an anthem for anyone who treads the snakebite sodden floors of their indie disco and sinks too many red stripes at the local 200 capacity gig venue. If anyone ever wanted to make a mix-tape to depict the character of Jimmy from Quadrophenia this track has to be on it.

The current cultural climate is far less tribal than the era or mods, rockers, punks and skins but this only serves to make this song better. It is easy for a wolf to don some sheep’s clothing these days but make no mistakes, The Crookes are the real deal. Also, in Hopewell they have lyricist who should be given as much airtime as possible so his words can make you laugh, cry and inspired.

2. PAWS - Youth Culture Forever

‘Youth Culture Forever’ is the second album from the Glaswegian 4 piece Paws. Here’s what TT made of it.

The album opener ‘Erreur Humanie’ is a slower number but by no means less powerful than the rest of the album. The opening lyrics aptly fit the current climate of reunion tours and nostalgic album tours by claiming ‘one should never go back and fuck with the past’.

The album is littered with some craking pop-punk numbers which are begging to be adored in indie discos. ‘Tounges’ is a wall of noise with a great Idlewild-esque riff and piano hook. ‘An Honest Romance’ has a Pavement guitar style but with Biffy’s ear bruising noise levels.

‘Owls Talons My Clenching Heart’ is the standout single from the bunch. It has a teenage brooding quality with lines like ‘I don’t want to fall in love with your heart’ and ‘I know I shouldn’t like you but it’s too late’. If only it had been written in 2009 it could have sound tracked the love triangle of Cook, Freddy and Effy in Skins.

The best thing about this album is not what its saying, it is that it’s being said. ‘Someone New’ states ‘I don’t want to see you with someone new’ which, won’t be troubling Keats nuanced poetry but, it’s puerile nature does highlight what its like to be jealous when young and who else is talking on their behalf in pop music these days?

‘Alone’ takes this further and declares ‘Fuck what others think’ and ‘Why would you want to go a funeral if your not old’. The obnoxious polemic is great and allows teenage angst to belong yet again to a creative world rather than the tantrum filled world of Bieber.

The album closes on ‘War Cry’, their most ambitious effort to date. At nearly 12 minutes long they leave behind their pop-punk default setting to create an aggressive epic. The guitar playing is from the school of Black Francis and Kurt Cobain but extended to leave you transfixed.

‘Youth Culture Forever’, for TT, is hopefully the beginning of a wave of young bands who are aggressive and oblivious to what has gone before them. The inclusive nature of music today is brilliant for anyone over the age of 21 but, teenagers need bands who sound like they are ready to die for what they believe in before they discover Dillinger’s lost reggae classics or Mr Fingers acid house gems.

We end this article with the lyrics from the title track ‘YCF’ simply because we can and, you should read it:

When I come home to my hometown,
I'm not sure which part of me still expects you to be around.
Same old faces, same old feelings,
But not nostalgia, I'm not revisiting, I am breathing
But not for youth cos we're still young and not for boredom,
Droughts of hope, I'm feeling like the only one
Who couldn't make it out of here alive.
I'm still trying to figure out which part it is
Of me that died, to screw this place
And curse their bones, I'm in a lodging room
Because I no longer have a home.
I had a nest, and now it's gone.
I know I said this in a song before
But, fuck it - "Life goes on."
I'll have my youth culture forever.
You'll have your youth culture forever.
He'll have his youth culture forever.
She'll have her youth culture forever.

1. Bombay Bicycle Club - So Long, See You Tomorrow

XFM recently hosted ‘An Evening With Noel Gallagher and Friends’ Nicky Wire discussed how 1994 was a great year for music with the release of ‘Holy Bible’, ‘Definitely Maybe’, ‘Parklife’, ‘Grace’, ‘In Utero’, ‘Dog Man Star’ and ‘Dummy’. He is correct. He went on to say how many albums will be held in the same esteem. Answer = none. A better question should be how many should be held in the same bracket as those classics? The answer to this question is one, ‘So Long See You Tomorrow’.

To the person responsible at Island Records for keeping them on the books for a fourth album, thank you. In fact, they should be giving the John Peel lecture in 2015 on ‘How to let bands grow in today’s climate.’

The album opens with ‘Overdone’ which isn’t spectacular but is a solid bridge from their past to what is about to unfold. Leaping of that bridge with lead stones attached come the astonishing ‘It’s Alright Now’. Time and time again we find ourselves spellbound by the lyrics ‘Made a plan to be someone / Mess it up when the moment comes / Step away step away stay numb / It’s alright now, I don’t want wanna wait’. The message of hope and that it is ok to fail is staggering in an era of hate fuelled politics and the constant reminder there is an ‘other’ causing you harm.

Musically it is comfortably the most ambitious and best thing they have done. It opens with beautiful harmonies and synths which reappear regularly throughout the track to add extra layers of ecstasy to this anthem. On paper it does just seem a tale of couple of various journeys, sometimes as one and sometimes antagonistically but, the feeling of hope and love is nowhere in music today, nowhere but here and TT cannot be the only one longing to belong to a feeling of optimism again, right?

Bombay Bicycle Club has been many things on their previous albums. They have been indie darlings and alternative folkies but always lacked a definitive identity. Their next album may well be another reinvention, but what this album does do, is give them a sound they seem to have mastered. The euphoria and blissed out sounds coarse through the veins of every song here.

‘Feel’ has the archetypal BBC hook which fans have grown accustom to. It also pulls in all the cuteness of The Sundays with vocals, the production bliss of New Order’s ‘Dream Attack’ and a killer borderline Bollywood bass line to make one of the singles of 2014.

‘Whenever, Wherever’ adopts a slow build approach which culminates in an exultant crescendo of UNKLE-esque drum loops and multifaceted vocals which will blow your mind. No doubt the scabs at X Factor will be using this for a montage for some soulless no-mark this year.

The introduction of Rae Morris on former single ‘Luna’ is a stroke of genius as it gives the album more texture which is what desperately needing but benefits from all the same. It is the contrast between the vocals which will make you marvel. A simple tactic but when done this well is always a joy to behold.

Guitar music hasn’t been prominent in the mainstream for a while, largely because it hasn’t stood for anything. ‘So Long, See You Tomorrow’ however, is sonically ambitious and it pays off. It offers hope to anyone who thought there was no way out of the current land of fear which is unfolding in front of us. For this, TT makes this album number and is left only to say, thank you Bombay Bicycle Club.